Draft
by Dokuhan
Summary: The Monkees Davy gets a draft notice in the mail, what is he going to do?


"I don't understand why they would draft you." Peter said "You're not a citizen, so why should you serve in another country's army for a war without a cause?"

"I thought I heard about this condition. If you're a long term resident then you have to go into the draft program." Mike added, his voice drawling with the normal Texas Twang. Micky, who sat next to the older man, nodded in agreement.

Davy sat with his head tipped back, the palm of his hand rested on his forehead while his fingers intertwined in his brown hair. "Can we please stop talking about this for a minute, mates? It's giving me a bleedin' 'eadache."

Mike shot up and threw his woolhat, which he had been holding, on the ground in disgust. "Well what are we supposed to do then?! Sit around a twiddle our thumbs until Uncle Sam takes you to 'Nam? I may be from Texas, a state filled with "patriotism" and all that other bologna, but I know that we have to right to be there!" It took all of his strength not to punch something. "You could get really hurt shotgun, hell, you could even die man."

Micky sighed and picked up the hat, brushing it off. "What Papa Nez means..." he handed the hat back to the Texan "Is that you're like a brother to us Davy, and we don't know what we'd do if we lost you."

Peter reread the Englishman's draft notice, which had been thrown carelessly to the ground after being read. All of them had been against the Vietnam War since it started; and it didn't help having a band member drafted in. Suddenly, the musician's eyes lit up with joy. "Hey Mick, you were almost drafted. How did you get out of it? With the leg thing?"

They all knew he was referring to how one of the drummer's legs was a quarter-inch shorter then the other. The mop-top shook his head at the question "No, I still would've had to go, I was actually rejected because I was underweight."

"You can't be serious. The way you eat?" Mike deadpanned

Micky shot a glare at his friend before turning to Davy, who was uncharacteristically silent "When's your physical?"

Davy sat back up and took the letter from Peter. He took a minute to read through it before answering "Three weeks from tomorrow."

"Alright that'll give us sometime to come up with a plan. Maybe break your legs, move to Canada or something..."

Mike shot a glare at the younger member and was about to scold him before Peter interrupted. "Hey how about we go grab some dinner?"

The short Brit gave a forced smile "You three go ahead, I'm just going to make some tea then 'ead off to bed." He said before getting up and walked into the kitchen.

The three's faces held worried looks as they walked out of the pad, hoping their friend wouldn't do anything drastic. Little did they know that Davy wouldn't sleep a wink that night and decided that maybe a little bit of fasting wouldn't be _too _bad, as long as it got him out of being drafted that is.

* * *

Mike walked down the hurricane stairs and into the kitchen where Davy was trying to eat a piece of toast. "You do know that bread is stale right?"

"I 'and't noticed."

"And I thought I was the sarcastic one." He rolled his eyes "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Barely at all. I'm so stressed that me stomach's in knots."

"It's understandable, after what happened yesterday."

Both ignored Peter as he walked into the room and made himself a bowl of cereal. He sat down at the table and yawned "whose turn is it to wake Micky this time?"

The three looked at each other with wide eyes.

"I did it yestahday." Davy muttered, looking away.

"I did it the day before that."

"I did it for three days before that." Mike sighed "Rock, paper, scissors?"

Soon after Mike lost, again, he went to go wake Micky, leaving Peter to his cereal and Davy to his hard bread. The bassist gave his friend a wary glance. He couldn't understand why he would keep trying to eat stale bread. "How about switching that rock hard bread for some cereal?"

"It's alrigh', I'm just trying not to aggravate me stressed system." Davy laughed, hoping Peter wouldn't notice his lie.

Before anything else could be said, the bandmates heard a large thump, signifying that Mike had resorted to just dragging Micky out of bed.

"Petah, remind me to nevah get Mike annoyed..."

"That I shall..."

* * *

It had been a week since Davy started fasting. One question always remained in his mind though. How could people deal with this on a regular basis? He always felt lightheaded now and his stomach was on the verge of killing him. Sure he was still eating, seeing as he didn't want to know what would happen if he actually starved himself, but it still wasn't a normal, healthy amount.

Davy had also noticed that he was having a lot of dizzy spells and would sometimes pass out before going to sleep. Luckily for him, nobody else seemed to notice. Peter did seem a little suspicious, but Micky and Mike brushed it off as just stress, none of the girls he had flirted or gone out with had taken much notice either.

He looked into the bathroom mirror at his own, tired, brown eyes as his stomach wrenched and growled. He scowled "Only two more weeks, then everything will be back to normal."

* * *

Two weeks into Davy's plan the Brit began to regret his decision a lot more. Sure his stomach had stopped its assault, for now at least, but now he had more extreme headaches, that were close to migraines, and fatigue. Whatever he usually could eat had a hard time staying down too.

He managed to stumble out of the bathroom and into Peter. "Petah? I though' you were going to check out the new gig with Micky and Mike."

"I decided to stay behind; you would have known that if you hadn't slept in later than Micky."

"Right. Sorry for running into you."

Peter noticed the swagger in Davy's steps "You alright Dave?"

"I'm fine." The shorter man hissed before sighing and sitting down on the couch "I'm sorry Petah, it's just...well...can you keep this to yourself?" He had to tell someone, not only because of guilt, from hiding this from his best friends, but at least someone should know just in case what he was doing put him in great danger.

Peter sat next to his British friend, knowing it had something to do with his odd behavior. He had been really worried about Davy and was positive it wasn't just stress.

"You've probably noticed I 'ave been getting a lot of 'eadaches recently and I've been sleeping a lot latah than normal. It's because I 'aven't been eating much in ordah to fail me draft exam." Peter stared in shock and was about to say something when Davy interrupted "I'm not starving myself, I'm not that daft, just eating less than normal."

"So you're risking your health just to avoid being drafted?"

"I 'ave a reason as to why I need to stay in America, but it needs to be kept undah wraps for the moment. Petah, promise me you'll keep this to yourself, at least until aftah the exam." His friend tried protesting but he replied "Please, I don't want Mike or Micky to worry and intahfear."

The musician sighed "Alright I will, but just take care of yourself Davy."

* * *

Finally the day of Davy's draft physical arrived. To put it simply, he felt absolutely horrible. Stress had started to kick in a few days before, making all of his symptoms ten times worse, not to mention the slight paranoia and irritability. He was going to have to use all of his energy just to get through today.

Micky looked at his, now slightly paler, friend "Alright Davy, are you sure you don't want me to break your legs or smuggle you into Canada?"

"Yes Micky I'm sure." Davy rolled his eyes

"Good luck Davy. Or maybe I should say 'bad luck'…um break a leg?"

"Why does everyone 'ave this weird obsession with breaking me bones?"

Mike chuckled "Well shotgun, here's to hoping I don't have to call you Private Jones when you come back."

"Thanks Mike." Davy smiled before leaving.

"Hey Mick, Pete, did you notice something if something odd his going on with Davy?"

"Yeah, I thought he was stressed before, but for the past few days he's be a nervous wreck. He hasn't flirted with a girl at all this week."

Peter bit his bottom lip before speaking "Guys, he hasn't been stressed all this time."

The two looked attentively at their bandmate.

"He's been fasting."

"What?" Both Mike and Micky yelled

"The midget's been starving himself?"

"Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"He's not starving himself, just eating less. And he didn't tell you guys because he knew you would react this way, he probably wouldn't have told me if I hadn't seen him swagger during a dizzy spell. We have to respect the Davy is an adult and knows what he's doing."

"That…was the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."

Mike rolled his eyes at Micky. He knew Peter wasn't as dumb as he was usually put off to be. Agreeing with Peter, the three went about their usual business for the next few hours, quietly worrying about their friend. This continued until Davy returned home that afternoon. They looked at him with anticipation, asking what the result was.

"I didn't make it in." Davy smiled before swaggering into the kitchen.

"Did you fail because of the fasting you did?" Micky asked.

"No, apparently I can't be drafted because I'm my family's only financial support."

Mike wanted to know more of the story "And that means?"

"I'm not really all that sure, couldn't focus aftah 'e told me I wasn't accepted." He pulled a bowl and box of cereal out of the cupboard and placed them on the table "Oh and Petah, thanks for not telling them until aftah I left."

"No problem, but if your physical didn't matter then was all that fasting you did worth noting?"

"You could say that." Before he could add anything else, Davy felt a shooting pain go through his head.

"You okay Davy?" He couldn't tell who was talking, his head hurt so much.

"Yeah, just a slight 'eadache." His vision grew dark and hazy and the next thing he knew, he felt like he was falling.

Mike ran up and caught his friend before he hit the floor. "Micky call an ambulance, Pete help me move him over to the couch."

* * *

Davy slowly opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings. Where was he? He tried to move his arm but felt a shot of pain. Looking down he noticed he was hooked up to an IV, signifying he was in a hospital, most likely the emergency room seeing as he was in the clothes he wore yesterday.

"He guys, the midget's awake." Micky laughed

The Brit gave a mock glare before asking "'ow long was I out?"

"Since yesterday, you had us really worried shotgun." Mike replied "But you know what, if you weren't in a hospital bed I would punch you in the face here and now. It's bad enough that you endangered your health, but the fact that you kept it from us makes it even worse."

"I know." Davy said quietly "And I'm truly sorry."

"Mike, Micky when Davy told me he was fasting he said that he had a reason he had to stay in America, maybe we should know what it is."

"Pete's right Mike."

The Texan sighed "Alright…"

Davy's brown eyes diverted away from them. "As you know, when U came 'ere from Manchestah I didn't know anyone in the country, I 'ad left behind all of me family in England. I was considering 'eading back 'ome but then I met you three." Mike, Peter and Micky looked at him curiously. "You became my best friends, the brothahs I never 'ad. Aftah leaving one family behind in England, I couldn't bare to leave the one I 'ave 'ere and risk seeing neither one again."

At that moment the three felt that they understood their friend a little bit better. Even though Davy was the youngest out of all of them, he had to give up a lot more to follow his dreams. They had more chances to visit their families, especially Micky who just had to drive a few towns over, while it cost a lot for him to even call home.

Mike placed a hand on the British man's shoulder. "We understand, just don't do it again."

"Mr. Jones?" Came a female voice. All four men came face to face with an, attractive, nurse. "The doctor said you could check out after you woke up, so I came to remove your IV and give you some of your medical information."

Micky, Peter and Mike walked out of the room, not really noticing the stars in Davy's eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you think he's going to be okay?" Peter asked

They heard the sounds of Davy's flirting and the nurse's, bashful, giggles.

Micky laughed "Yep. He's gonna be a-okay!"

* * *

Yes here it is! My first Monkees fanfic! Please check out the information on my deviantART regaurding this fanfic, seeing as I have two other places I need to post this and I can't copy and paste the reason here. Link to my devART (DaBassistLaura178) located in my profile.


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